Idzie

Anarcha-feminist, queer, grown unschooler, writer. Big fan of cats, hiking, snowshoeing, photography, and wandering around outdoors as much as I'm able to. Extremely excited about birds. Chronically ill (aka often a literal armchair anarchist). Plans to run off to the woods shortly. Writing again for the first time in years about most of the above in my new newsletter Forest Words. White settler. Land Back is the only way forwards.

Private alt [@Idz](https://social.treehouse.systems/@Idz )

Location: Greater Tiohtià:ke / Montreal
Writings: https://forest-words.ghost.io/
Pronouns: She/her

Public Key

npub1zs5a7tn4hfk2uht7dlehq354s0n4aqgzcn4sll339jvln6ufuuhszwedza

NIP-05 Address

idzie_at_kolektiva.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqspg2wl9e6m5m9wt4lxlumsg62c8e67sypvf6c0lccjex0eawy7wtcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds9u4rkh

Publishing to

relay.nostr.bg

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1zs5a7tn4hfk2uht7dlehq354s0n4aqgzcn4sll339jvln6ufuuhszwedza

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Last Notes

2026-03-17 00:14:13 UTC

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thanks, I've been lucky with new birds this year!

2026-03-17 00:13:27 UTC

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it was quite a distant sighting, but still always exciting! I don't know where you live but I hope it's possible to spot one, and that you can https://kolektiva.social/@idzie/115822602763888789

2026-03-16 21:21:22 UTC

Birthday selfie! I'm tired, but I'm trying not to be too miserable.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/240/910/919/604/666/original/e36b372b5a025f1a.jpg

2026-03-16 17:12:57 UTC

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thank you, and what gorgeous crocuses!

2026-03-16 12:52:48 UTC

It's my birthday today, for whatever that's worth. I haven't even been up long and things are already going wrong, and I'm not thrilled to be 35 ("better than being dead!" my sibling cheerfully told me). If you want to say nice things to me today, I'd definitely appreciate it. 🥲

2026-03-15 17:40:19 UTC

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March 14th:
41. Northern pintail (lifer!)

2026-03-15 16:30:46 UTC

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wow, what an experience! And definitely one that sounds like it would get the heart racing 😅

2026-03-15 13:46:36 UTC

There have been a lot of golden eagles spotted around me lately! Which I believe is unusual? I didn't see many showing up in checklists at all last spring raptor season, and they're certainly very rare the rest of the year. Makes me VERY eager to get out more and scan the skies for eagles, I REALLY want to see a golden eagle!!

2026-03-14 23:57:39 UTC

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thank you!

2026-03-14 16:04:22 UTC

RE: https://kolektiva.social/@idzie/115974383337516778
I have a blog! You can read a little bit about it below, and get links to subscribe (either for free, there is no paywall, or at one of the paid tiers if you like that kind of thing and want to help a disabled writer who's reliant on family to get a little more financial independence).
And below, I'm going to share a few essays from the first 11 months of this blog's existence...
#note1y5e…xqfc

2026-03-14 02:10:50 UTC

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this is absolutely stunning

2026-03-14 01:59:17 UTC

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March 13th:
37. Common goldeneye
38. Bufflehead
39. Great black-backed gull
40. Greater scaup (probably, I don't know how anyone tells greater scaups with female plumage apart from lesser)

2026-03-13 17:43:15 UTC

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It was thanks to my essay in this book by the way, which was the last thing I wrote on the topic of unschooling/self-directed education before deciding I was really ready to move on. https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/carla-bergman-editor-trust-kids

2026-03-13 16:49:04 UTC

Huh, accidentally discovered I was cited in another academic paper. Which has always been a little bemusing to be, since I have no formal schooling (I'm a kindergarten dropout). If I ever decide to get a bachelor's degree I could have a very funny application, no schooling, but a long list of quotes and citations in academic papers and books!

2026-03-10 23:34:48 UTC

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March 9th:
33. Ring-billed gull
34. Canada goose
35. Cedar waxwing
March 10th:
36. Red-winged blackbird

2025-09-23 22:46:07 UTC

As a bisexual I don't want visibility, I want anarchy.

2025-08-29 16:26:46 UTC

Once more deeply despairing and struggling to believe anything will ever get better, or that I'll ever feel better.

2025-08-19 18:08:32 UTC

My yard is filled with grapevines, the grapes are mostly ripe now, and the birds are THRILLED! Constantly robins and cardinals and grackles and starlings just swallowing grapes whole. Except for the juvenile robins who are still pretending they don't know how to eat unless food is placed carefully in their mouths. 😂

2025-08-14 17:13:53 UTC

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There's been an unfortunate development today: another baby down. 😭 I'm assuming mother is dead or otherwise gone, and this one has been alone longer and was quite cold when I finally tracked them down by their cries in the brush pile. They'll be joining their sibling in a couple of his, but in the meantime trying to keep them warm and get them rehydrated.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/028/230/373/862/028/original/83fe6dd11b423e2f.jpg

2025-08-13 22:57:32 UTC

Squirrel drama update, for those who want to know: yesterday was spent fruitlessly trying to get a parent squirrel to come claim baby squirrel (baby in box at base of tree, baby distress calls repeatedly played on my phone left right next to the box). We called and messaged numerous places seeing if anyone could take them in if the parent didn't come, but well, they're a squirrel. Some responses were along the lines of it's just nature, leave them out, others were like bring them into your house and re-hydrate them, and I have three cats and a dog with no place they could safely be shut away, and additionally they have fleas and parasites I don't want my own animals exposed to. My sister and I did make a hydration solution from a recipe we found specifically for squirrels and got them to drink a bit of that, introduced a heat source despite the hot day which they clearly needed by their reaction, but we still didn't have a good solution. As night was approaching I was deeply torn between that's a wild animal, I should leave them outside and what will happen will happen, and that tiny helpless creature fell just 15 feet away from me and started crying, I need to help them. My sister pushed things firmly in the latter direction, and really I don't think I could have given up on them even without her influence. Once we'd intervened, that was it, the baby was our responsibility now. Out of options, we were reluctantly planning on putting them in the garage overnight, hoping we could pack enough warmth and insulation in that they could survive the chilly garage long enough to be placed back outside at dawn in the hopes a mother would finally show up... When a good friend came through and tracked down someone in domestic animal rescue with experience raising (and releasing!) squirrels who was happy to take them. So that's what we did, so they'll have a shot at growing up to be an adult squirrel. A nice woman with a rodent-sized carrier complete with hot pack and some flea powder took them away and is giving us updates! They're so tiny and precious and I hope they make it.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/115/023/912/511/092/652/original/9bb44f61146e5811.jpeg

2025-08-10 20:52:59 UTC

I've been in a bad migraine spell again and it's definitely making all the fear and despair worse.

2025-07-09 18:56:29 UTC

Computer has ripped itself apart further, guess I have to bring it in for a repair estimate today. It's only 16 months old!! I'm really upset. 😭

2025-07-03 14:48:56 UTC

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well, maybe less a friend, I have very mixed feelings on Aldo. 😂 But a couple of his essays in there (the one on Canada geese comes to find!) I know I'll be returning to again and again.

2025-06-27 19:02:59 UTC

A juvenile white-breasted nuthatch, all scrungly and adorable.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/756/818/016/792/961/original/fdc08b9561333dec.jpeg
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/756/818/011/666/142/original/13ba743b3eb2316d.jpeg

2025-06-06 16:10:05 UTC

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I look on either the Quebec government weather app (special air quality statement, their AQI maps which show red/high for the whole region) or IQAir (which is showing numbers higher than the government right now). No clue about other apps for Montreal

2025-06-01 16:23:35 UTC

"To test nest predation, the researchers needed a different approach—one that wouldn’t endanger any actively breeding birds. So they created their own artificial nests, simulating cavity nests with nest boxes and open-cup nests with inactive robin nests. The researchers set up 147 artificial nests in a natural area in Ithaca, New York, called Monkey Run, placing two domestic quail eggs in each nest—but only half also contained a piece of snakeskin. Then, they left the nests unattended for two weeks, checking in every few days to see if the eggs were damaged by predators.
The results were striking: While the snake sheds had no effect on predation rates in open-cup nests, the researchers found that eggs in cavity nests augmented with snakeskin were much more likely to survive the experiment. Rohwer says that this difference may arise because open-cup nests can be accessed and preyed upon by any number of animals, but the small openings to cavity nests likely restrict potential predators to small-bodied mammals like flying squirrels and chipmunks— species that are hardwired to avoid any sign of snakes."
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/why-birds-snakeskin-nests-predators/

2024-11-27 23:58:59 UTC

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I'd point you towards the FEET in the first pic!!

2024-11-27 22:34:05 UTC

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Best I managed...
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/557/265/288/780/358/original/d11420e6342badf6.jpeg
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/557/269/810/224/415/original/494cb8d9b1101a7b.jpeg

2024-11-27 22:12:18 UTC

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I only got out of focus shots sadly, but we might go back later this week and see if we can spot them again... The steady stream of birders means there are a lot of eyes around, and people helpfully telling you where they were last spotted.

2024-11-27 22:08:51 UTC

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They're very cute, like a pretty tiny chicken in the reeds!
And they seemed entirely unbothered by the people there to look at them, a little celebrity as my sister said 😂

2024-11-27 22:06:35 UTC

So, there's a very rare bird around Montreal right now, a purple gallinule, and I went through several stages about this tropical bird:
1. Wow! I've never gone and tried to see an excessively rare bird before, that sounds like an adventure!
2. This is a tropical bird, in Quebec in November. How did they get here? Are they lost? Will they die when it gets colder?? Are all the birders descending on them bothering them, and would my presence simply be part of a parade of people gawking at a bird about to die??
3. Actually read a bit about them, and discover purple gallinules are frequent "vagrants" (weird term, but what's generally used) turning up in places wildly out of their range, like Iceland, or Quebec. They're strong fliers who will sometimes simply decide to go somewhere else when food is scarce.
4. Go out and see a purple gallinule!!

2024-11-20 17:00:29 UTC

I'm considering trying antidepressants again because I'm not sure I can bootstrap my way through winter and moving without chemical assistance. But the vast majority of ones I've tried haven't worked, and I've had some bad experiences with side effects, so pretty concerned about trying to make things better and instead making things worse...

2024-07-10 17:36:40 UTC

The best soft drinks are root beer and cream soda, everything else (readily available in my part of the world) is either boring or gross.

2024-07-04 15:52:20 UTC

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"Homeschooling is fascist!" when fascists do it, yes, when leftists and anarchists do it (hell when most liberals do it) actually no, it's not!
We live in an adult supremacist society where the family and schools are both frequent sites of abuse. There are children who find respite from abusive homes in school, but just as importantly there are children who find respite from abusive schools with their family! Often children face abuse at both locations.
Youth liberation is desperately needed, and part of that project is a vast widening of possibilities for children, so that they have countless opportunities outside of either family or state control (the two of which overlap in many important ways). But in the meantime, making "education" solely the purview of the state is wildly dangerous and absurd for an anarchist to wish for. Homeschooling is a necessary option within the current framework, because more options for kids is actually better than less.

2024-07-04 15:42:02 UTC

People with zero knowledge of the various political currents and histories within homeschooling movements should really stop talking about the subject with such an annoyingly large amount of unearned confidence

2024-06-29 14:30:20 UTC

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oh no, it's definitely not you!

2024-06-29 13:27:42 UTC

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off topic but the comments on your posts are consistently so annoying I don't know how you stand it, I'm sorry people are so weird about everything you say 😕